


In Which They Get There in the End

by Mireille



Category: Buffy the Vampire Slayer
Genre: M/M, Post-Canon
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-12-17
Updated: 2017-12-17
Packaged: 2019-03-12 00:19:14
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 9
Words: 1,625
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/13535646
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Mireille/pseuds/Mireille
Summary: A series of very short ficlets about Giles and Xander and how eventually things work out.





	1. In Which the Council's Phone Bill Is Outrageous

It was difficult to judge one's relationship with someone who was only a voice at the other end of the telephone, Giles thought, but it seemed to him that when he and Xander had talked lately, there'd been a certain... warmth. 

He didn't think he was imagining it--actually, he was certain of that. He wasn't imagining things. He wouldn't have; it wasn't as though he'd been hoping for it. This had come as a complete surprise to him, in fact, though not an unwelcome one. 

And he thought it was time they addressed it directly; as pleasant as this was, it had gone on long enough. Xander could come back to England, or Giles could meet him somewhere, and they could see whether anything came of this. 

But when, at the end of one of their calls, Giles said, "There's something I'd like to ask you," there was a long, cold silence. 

Then Xander said, "Me first," and without waiting for Giles' reply, rushed on with, "I’m going to report to Andrew from now on. He's okay with it, and I think... I just think it would be better."

And after that, there really was nothing Giles could say.


	2. In Which Giles Makes a Fool of Himself

This was his own fault. He'd misread things, had acted on incorrect assumptions, and he'd made Xander uneasy. And Xander, rather than confronting him and making an awkward scene, had simply chosen to report to Andrew. 

Andrew, as usual, was the very definition of oblivion, burbling infuriatingly about things Xander had said, and some bloody fish Xander had sent him, until Giles wanted to throttle him even more than usual. 

He was no stranger to wanting to throttle Andrew, of course, but the motivation was new. He was jealous of _Andrew_ , for heaven's sake. Not that he thought there was anything between Andrew and Xander, but at least Andrew got to talk to him--and yes, he told himself, he was well aware of how ridiculous that was. 

Obviously, Xander was only trying to make things less awkward, so if Giles had any dignity left, he'd stop dwelling on it.


	3. In Which Xander Visits a River in Egypt

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Temporary POV change here. Back to Giles for the rest, though.

Xander had been kind of bothered by what he'd thought Giles wanted to say to him. No, he thought, not "kind of." He was really seriously disturbed by it, because... He couldn't think of a word to describe it; he just shuddered a little. Anyway, Giles had _completely_ got the wrong idea about him, and why did people keep doing that? 

That was why Xander was avoiding him, even if it meant talking to Andrew a lot. Not that Andrew was that bad, not at this distance, but he wasn't Giles. Of course, if Xander was right about what Giles had been about to say, Giles wasn't all that Giles-y himself right now, because hitting on Xander? Definitely not Giles-y behavior. 

So Xander didn't miss talking to him, due to the freakiness factor, and he didn't waste time thinking about him, and he'd been completely disturbed by the fact that Giles could have gotten any kind of _idea_ about him from their conversations. 

And maybe it was immature to avoid talking to Giles because of it, but after the past couple of years, Xander thought he was entitled to decided that there was something he was just not dealing with.


	4. In Which Andrew Has Some Bad News

"What do you mean, you haven't heard from him?" Giles demanded, forgetting all about the meeting he had in ten minutes, the one with the handful of retired Watchers who'd made it clear they thought he ought to step aside and let them run things. 

Andrew stayed well back from the desk. "He's not calling in, and I haven't been able to reach him through any of the usual channels."

"What about the embassy?"

"It's kind of early for that. Besides, I didn't know whether to call the American one or the British one."

" _Both_ ," Giles snapped. "He was supposed to be in Kenya, so start with Nairobi."

"I'm on the case, Mr. Giles," Andrew said. "If Xander's in this dimension, I'll find him. I found a book on investigation techniques...."

God help them; what that probably meant was that Andrew had been reading Agatha Christie and thought he was Jane Marple. 

"If something's happened to him, I'm holding you personally responsible." Giles was aware that he wasn't being exactly fair to Andrew, but he didn't care. Xander was _missing_ , and Giles was afraid it might be his fault. 

Blaming Andrew was the easiest way to keep from blaming himself.


	5. In Which the Fatted Calf Is Not Exactly Killed

Giles didn't look up when his door opened; he knew it would be Andrew, come to give his daily report of no progress--or rather, no progress on the one thing Giles actually _cared_ about; while he was still getting work done, it all seemed rather unimportant in comparison. "Well?" he demanded. "Have you found him?"

"Yeah, he's kind of turned up," was the reply, although that wasn't Andrew's voice. 

"Xander?" Giles got to his feet, not quite able to believe it--though that was definitely Xander, looking exhausted and tense, but unhurt. 

Xander nodded. "I, um. Andrew's already told me how worried you guys were, so can we skip the yelling? It was kind of a long flight."

"I hadn't planned to shout at you." He'd been far too stunned to be angry, to be honest; they'd come very close to ringing the girls and telling them he suspected something terrible had happened to Xander. 

"I guess I'm probably fired, huh."

To be honest, he hadn't thought of that. Even if he had wanted to, they really couldn't spare him. "Do you want to be?"

"I don't know." Xander shrugged. "Not really. I want--" He shook his head. "I don't even know what I want."

And now he _was_ angry, now that he wasn't numb any more, and so all he could say was, "Let Andrew know when you make up your mind, then," and take a petty sort of comfort in the hurt look on Xander's face.


	6. In Which Things Continue to Go Badly

Xander had stormed out of the office, and Giles couldn't blame him. He'd been as coldly dismissive of Xander as he knew how to be, and while Xander might have expected anger, he probably hadn't expected that. 

Giles _was_ angry. He trusted Xander to take care of the Slayers he located in Africa, and this irresponsible behavior made him doubt the wisdom of that. He'd been angry before that, of course, but that, he couldn't blame Xander for. That had only been injured pride, and it wasn't worth mentioning. 

It did mean, though, that he thought Xander would probably prefer to explain things to Andrew, rather than to him, and so he didn't try to keep Xander from walking out. 

Andrew would go after him, and as worrying as it was to put Andrew in charge of anything important, Giles thought it would probably be best to leave it to him.


	7. In Which Progress Might Be Made

Giles wasn't normally in his office quite this late unless there was some sort of crisis, but the late-afternoon rain had turned into a thunderstorm, and he'd decided to wait it out. There wasn't anywhere else he actually _needed_ to be, so he might as well. 

And so when Xander appeared, hovering reluctantly in his doorway, Giles was actually there instead of being three miles away. 

"Do you even want to know why I did it?"

Giles' first instinct was to say something witheringly sarcastic. He wanted to stay angry, to remember that this was, technically, one of his employees who'd disappeared for a few weeks without a word of warning. 

But Xander looked tired and anxious, and all Giles could say was, "Only if you want to tell me."

"I don't," Xander said, and for a moment, Giles thought he was going to leave it at that. Then he went on, "But I'll tell you why I came back: I missed you."

After that, Giles found it extremely difficult to be angry at him.


	8. In Which There Is Light at the End of the Tunnel

Giles had decided that this was a conversation best accompanied by alcohol, and Xander hadn't taken much persuasion; he didn't seem enthusiastic about the idea, but he agreed right away. Twenty minutes later, they were sitting at a small table in the corner of a pub. 

"I'm sorry," Xander said for the third time. "I should have told Andrew that I needed time off. I just needed to get away and think. About everything, really, but mostly about..." He trailed off, picking up and setting down his glass several times without drinking. "I kind of have a habit of screwing things up," Xander said. "And I thought... I honestly don't know what I thought." He looked down at the table. "I guess it doesn't matter now, does it?"

"It does to me," Giles said quietly. 

"Yeah, right. After all this?"

Giles nodded, and was rewarded by a faint, hopeful smile.


	9. In Which There Is a Happy Ending

They were still talking in circles--or rather, Xander was, and Giles was attempting to fill in the blanks in the conversation as best he could. 

Xander had apparently opted to report to Andrew rather than confront what had been developing between them, and, when that hadn't worked, he'd gone off for a while to think, or to try to _not_ think--it was difficult for Giles to be entirely certain; that was one of the parts Xander only referred to obliquely. 

"I just... I had to figure stuff out," Xander said. 

"And did you?"

"I'm here, aren't I?" Xander said, grinning for the first time since he came back, and Giles thought things might be all right between them--if not now, soon. 

"Which proves you have excellent taste, even if you tried to deny it," he said, and he hadn't realized how much he'd missed hearing Xander laugh.

**Author's Note:**

> [me on tumblr](https://mireille719.tumblr.com)


End file.
